Chapter 7: Haunting Memories

About a week had passed, and Sora had yet to remember anything. Though, no one had really been trying hard to jog his memory. Riku was the only one who really could, and everything he tried wouldn't work. The only thing he hadn't tried (besides flat out telling Sora) was picking a fight with Sora, but he didn't really want to do that.

Sora had been trying his best to remember, but nothing was really working. Every time he managed to pull up a memory he was distracted by a sudden pain that shot through him and the memory faded before he could think about it.

Man, he thought to himself, I almost miss those days back on the Islands, when me and Riku did nothing but compete all day. Things will never be the same, I guess, considering whatever happened. He laughed, pulling out his old wooden sword. It's not like I remember-

He paused, noticing something on the sword. He turned it over, and the gasped.

There was a bloodstain, on his sword.

"What?" he asked.

Riku gasped and stumbled back in pain. His hand flew to his shoulder and he clutched his hand over the wound. He fell to his knees. Sora paused, staring in shock. What had he just done?

"Sora!" Riku shouted, glancing up in shock. There were traces of fear on his face.

But Sora was focused on something else.

Blood.

Riku's blood.

"I-I'm sorry, I-" Sora stammered.

Sora gasped, dropping the sword and clutching his head as the memories came flooding back to him.

The islands were falling apart. He was taking almost no notice.

"Come with me, Riku," he said, voice quieter than before. Darkness started to seep up from the cracks beneath his feet, snaking its way up his legs.

"I'm not leaving without Namine," Riku declared.

Sora's eyes formed a glare. "It's always her first, isn't it?" he asked quietly, voice cold and angry. The darkness slowly wrapped around him completely.

There was a flash, a change.

He slowly blinked his eyes open. He lay on the ground, face down. He groaned, realizing just how much he hurt. His head hurt, and his body hurt. He pushed himself to his feet and looked around.

"Where… am I?" he asked himself quietly.

Hollow Bastion.

Another flash.

He was in Traverse Town.

"Hey, Riku!" Sora said. "Hey-" he stopped suddenly, glancing at Namine. His smile fell, and he stood silent for a second, before turning to Riku with a glare in his eyes. "Where's Kairi?" he asked sternly.

Riku paused, and his smile fell too. "Sorry, Sora, I-"

"You haven't found her!" Sora asked, in disbelief.

"Well no," Riku said, starting to sound confused. "I've only been searching for a day…"

"You found Namine!" Sora shouted.

Sudden anger, flooding through him. He couldn't believe it. How had this happened?

He had to find Kairi.

A cry of pain escaped Sora's lips. The darkness rose up within him again. Waves of pain shot through him as the darkness continued to grow within his heart.

"No!" he shouted, trying to force it back down.

He had found her by now, and they were in Hollow Bastion.

"Sora…" Kairi whispered. "I'm scared…"

He smiled. "Don't worry," he said, gently cupping her cheek in his hand. "I won't let anything hurt you. Promise."

A sudden blur, and then he had Riku pinned to the wall. Riku stared at him, shocked, and… a bit frightened. Sora took no notice. He was too angry to care.

"Why are you here?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"I was just talking to Kairi," Riku said slowly.

"You're trying to get in the way!" Sora shouted.

"Am not!" Riku replied.

But Sora wasn't listening. He barely cared.

"Let go of me!" Riku gasped.

The darkness was restless inside of him, trying desperately to use this sudden anger that accompanied the memories to get a hold of Sora again. Sora was fighting back just as hard, even though he wasn't quite sure as to why.

It was crushing him. Crushing his breath, crushing his heart. Why did it hurt so much?

"That was a reckless use of your dark powers," Maleficent scolded.

"Shut up!" Sora gasped, glaring up at her.

"Just remember," Maleficent said. "Relying too much on the darkness could cost you your heart."

A sudden change.

Finally, they had found the Keyhole. Sora grinned, turning to Kairi. "Hold on," he said, letting go of her hand and starting to run off. "I need to-"

"No," Kairi said, catching him by the arm. "You don't."

"What?" Sora asked, tugging his arm away. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to do this, Sora!"

"Yes, Kairi, I do," he said coldly. "Maleficent helped me find you, I said I'd help her with this. We had a deal."

But this wasn't right.

He had to fix this.

"A weak heart can't accomplish anything…"

Sora stopped, quickly turning around. A mysterious figure stood behind him.

"My heart isn't weak!" he snapped.

The mysterious figure scoffed. "A strong heart would have been able to make a decision quickly, and you wouldn't be in this mess now."

Sora turned away. "What should I do?" he asked.

"It is really quite simple," the mysterious figure replied. "Open yourself to the darkness. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."

This couldn't be right.

But he had to fix this.

"How did-" Sora began, and then gulped. "How did you get in here?"

"You let me in, silly boy,"

"I… I did?" Sora asked. "Why did I do that?"

"Because I can help you,"

"You can!" Sora asked, excitement in his voice. "You mean I can fix things?"

"Of course," Ansem said.

He was going to set things right.

The darkness flared up inside of him, and almost managed to grab a hold of him again. Just the memory of giving into the darkness had made Sora weak.

But another memory flashed by.

"You don't have to do this!" Kairi cried, staring at him in disbelief.

"You don't understand," Sora said."I have to do this."

He didn't care. Nothing could stand in his way.

Well, some of him cared. The light in his heart broke down crying, ashamed of what the rest of him was doing. Ashamed that he had made Kairi this scared.

"What are you doing!" Sora shouted, glaring up at Ansem with tear streaked cheeks."I thought you said we could fix things!"

A scream. Kairi's scream, as her heart had been torn from her body.

It was echoing in his mind, over and over again.

"I can't believe…" he whispered. "I- what have I done? I- I-"

Sora sat up suddenly, the flood of memories releasing him. He gasped, as the darkness inside him lashed out. He quickly forced it away.

He groaned, clutching his head as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

"What have I done?" he asked quietly.